It was fast approaching an entire day since Naoe left for Hakone, but she had had no word from him.
Night had fallen once more. Ayako was awaiting Chiaki’s report at Asaoka Inn when she saw him drive up.
“Nagahide...!” She rushed over to him. “What are you doing here? Have you found Yuzuru-kun?”
“I followed his trail here. Why the hell haven’t I been able to get in touch with you all day?”
“I went hunting tsutsuga. And what do you mean, you followed Yuzuru-kun’s trail here?”
“I’m not sure either.” Chiaki answered, plopping down onto the lobby sofa. “The Bell-Ringing Ritual pointed me here. I’m pretty sure he’s in the area.”
“So Yuzuru-kun’s in Nikkou? Hold on!—do you know where he is right now? We have to go rescue him!”
“When I got here, the noise got so loud that I couldn’t track him anymore. Someone’s putting up interference. There’s so much spiritual energy gathered at Mt. Nikkou
that my ears are still ringing. Why don’t you give it a try?” he suggested, handing Ayako the vajra bell.
“I’m not getting through, either. So Yuzuru-kun must be somewhere around Mt. Nikkou—somewhere with strong spiritual energy.”
“Guessing somebody put up a huge barrier here to disrupt spiritual sendings. Anything that hits it gets bounced right back.” Chiaki leaned into the sofa tiredly. “Time for the legging it part, I s’pose. What’s next for you?”
“We-ell...”
Ayako had already spent that day running around Nikkou trying to hunt down the tsutsuga. Though several more people fallen inexplicably into comas had been taken to the hospital during that time, she had seen neither hide or hair of a single beast. Rumors were beginning to incite panic in the community.
At a loss, Ayako had returned to the inn and discussed their plans with Katakura, who had himself returned only a short while before.
“We must take measures,” Katakura said.
“Let’s lay a trap,” Ayako suggested.
“Trap? What’re you gonna do?”
“What High Priest Tenkai did when he hunted the tsutsuga in Edo: lure them out with their favorite food.”
“Favorite food...?”
“The spirits of tigers and panthers and other carnivores. If Katakura-san can summon a couple of strong poisonous beast-spirits to one place, we’ll kill the tsutusga when they come to feed.”
“Will that really work?”
“I don’t know, but I think it’s worth a try. I’m pretty sure the Date are willing to help us.”
“Okay...” Chiaki took a deep breath, staring up at the ceiling. He hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, and he was exhausted. “You haven’t heard anything else from Kagetora?”
“...No.” Ayako shook her head solemnly. Chiaki had been the first person she’d called after receiving Kagetora’s message from the mirror.
“...Hum. Looks like the Houjou and Fuuma were responsible for the theft of the Tsutsuga Mirrors after all, huh? Has Tooyama come to see you yet?”
“No. But Kagetora said that he’d give him no choice. Kagetora’s probably going to contact him through the mirror like he did with me and Naoe.”
Chiaki looked annoyed. “Contact? Humph. It’s usually called ‘threaten,’ geez. Sounds just like him to terrorize a guy who once betrayed him to get the location of the Mirrors from the Houjou. Damn, now he’s showing his true colors. Takes some chutzpah to play the victim card so he can use Tooyama’s guilt against him. Did he transform back to his old self after entering the mirror or something?”
“Maybe? ...At least, I don’t think this kid version of him is capable of something like this,” a puzzled Ayako answered, one finger tapping her lips. “And who would’ve thought that Tooyama Yasuhide is still in the world?”
He was familiar to both Haruie and Nagahide. When the Echigo-Sagami Alliance was formed, Haruie had a great deal of contact with both Yasuhide and his father, the Houjou envoys, during the hostage exchange that resulted in him being sent to Odawara. (Which led to Haruie joining Kagetora’s side as one of his first supporters in the Otate no Ran, and in turn to his death at the hands of Kagekatsu’s followers...) For this reason, though they had fought on the same side, her rage at Yasuhide for abandoning their lord at the end burned even hotter than Kagetora’s.
“If I’d lived, I would never even have thought about leaving him. What kind of feckless coward forgets all the debts of gratitude he owes his lord and tries to run home by himself? His own father, his brothers in arms, they all died honorably at the Otate. Kagetora lost because he had worthless scum like that serving him. And now he dares to come back to serve the Houjou. That gutless toad. I’ll never forgive him.”
“Hah hah... Is that so?” Chiaki responded indifferently, as if were something that concerned him not at all, and Ayako shot him a sharp glare.
“Not that you’d understand, since you fought for Kagekatsu. Humph! I can’t deal with any of you! I don’t have time for this!”
“...Huh, well...I really thought that Kagetora’s forgotten all his old hatreds.”
“No way! And he hasn’t forgiven, either!”
“I’ll bet you’re the only one who believes that. You sure it’s not because you’re the type to carry a grudge?”
“Gyaah! What did you say?!”
“...He doesn’t hate anybody anymore.” Chiaki said. Ayako gave him a look at the sudden serious tone and dropped her raised fist. Chiaki snorted. “He’s just become a good actor. Like a tanukiwearing a tiger’s pelt. You don’t think?”
“Wh...?”
“When he’s seriously into it, I can’t tell if he’s acting or not sometimes. He puts on that expression, like, ‘I’m the victim here, so what’re you complaining about?’ He flaunts weakness to torture people. Most of it isn’t acting. If you fall for it, he’s got you. You’d think he was a demon if he did it to you.”
“You really mean that?”
“He’s a calculating tiger. An incomparable tactician, unconsciously. His conscience never bothers him. That’s the kind of person he is,” Chiaki said, his mouth crooking, defiant. “That’s why I never want to lose to him.”
Ayako’s expression was ambivalent as she studied Chiaki. He had probably stopped thinking of Kagetora as his ‘master’ long ago, if ever he did. But because he saw them both as human beings—and thus equal, he saw Kagetora clearly.
“Humph. So I’m the only one that stupid tiger won’t show himself to, huh? Pisses me off.”
“...Guess he thinks it’d be a waste of time?”
“’Cause he’s too busy running around inside mirrors? Sheesh, he’ll really take advantage of any situation. And you ask why I call him a hardass. Why doesn’t he just go find Narita himself?”
“Ah!” Ayako looked as if a light bulb had suddenly flashed above her head. “That’s right! We should ask Kagetora to help find Yuzuru-kun!”
“Help? How?”
“Kagetora can look for a mirror reflecting Yuzuru-kun and contact him just like he contacted me here.”
“That’s right!” Chiaki clapped his hands together. “But how do we call Kagetora to ask?”
“Uh...well...”
“Yasuda Nagahide. So you’ve come chasing after Narita Yuzuru, hmm?” Kousaka addressed them unexpectedly from behind.
“You again?” Chiaki huffed in disgust.
“I see Kagetora has contacted you, Kakizaki. So it appears Houjou is behind everything after all. It’s no less than I expected of Kagetora-dono to use his misfortune to his advantage. In the mirror world, he must be practically clairvoyant. Maybe he should stay.”
“Don’t come around trying to distract us just because Naoe isn’t here. What are you Takeda bastards hanging around for, anyway? Where is Shingen, now that he’s been sent packing out ofMatsumoto?”
“My lord is quite well. However, the fact that Narita is here in Nikkou is an unforgivable blunder. And why do you suppose Date Kojirou is here as well?”
“What?!”
“I have not performed a Bell-Ringing Ritual, but...well, let us just say that unlike the useless Yasha, my servants are capable of such trivial reconnaissance, at least.”
“You callin’ us less useful than your crows, you asshole?”
Kousaka snorted a laugh. “The Houjou onshou appear to have set up their headquarters here on a massive scale. I very much hope Narita’s presence is only coincidence.”
“What?! Are you implying that Date Kojirou is working with the Houjou?”
“I’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions,” Kousaka answered vaguely, heading for the stairs. “But if he is, then you have bungled spectacularly. Perhaps you should think up ways of asking Kagetora-dono’s forgiveness now.”
“...”
“Or better yet, prepare yourselves to commit ritual suicide,” Kousaka suggested sarcastically as he went up to the second floor, leaving Chiaki and Ayako without a rejoinder.
Tooyama-sama is gone—!
Tooyama’s followers were in an uproar back at Kinugawa Hotel. Sahei had reported to Tooyama upon finishing preparations for the banquet, only to be angrily and stridently told off, the banquet canceled. Concerned with her master’s strange behavior, she had gone to see him again about thirty minutes later, to find his room empty. Nor could anyone find him anywhere in the hotel. He had always told one of them before he went anywhere; he was a conscientious man. Stranger still, he had left his door ajar and his room an utter mess.
“He went out? Seriously?” Sahei demanded in an inadvertently raised voice. The woman at the front desk looked slightly intimidated.
“Yes. He asked for a taxi a little while ago and left.”
“When was this?!”
“Let’s see... Maybe around an hour ago? He looked very distracted...”
If nothing else, she was certain about his agitated state. He had not mentioned his destination, but she thought the taxi company might know. Sahei’s face paled. Leaning against the front desk, she asked, “Could you please find out?”
Tooyama Yasuhide barely managed to relay the address Kagetora had given him to the driver before hunching over himself, shivering.
(He knows.)
Of Tooyama’s old betrayal. Even of his resurrection into this time.
Every one of Kagetora’s words from the mirror had been knife blades striking into his flesh. The past, no longer quietly laid to rest, rose up to attack him mercilessly. How he wanted to disappear from this place!
When he alone had escaped from Samegao castle four hundred years ago, his guilt for his betrayal, for trying to guarantee his own safety, had not cut into him so deeply as this. Now it flayed him.
(There was nothing else I could do. I was going to die. I didn’t want to die. I had no other choice,) he justified desperately. But before the reality of Kagetora’s righteous hatred, his excuses no longer had any power of conviction.
«I will not forgive you—...!!»
The bottomless loathing in his eyes added:
My hatred for you is without end.
I will send you to Hell with my own hands.
(I...I...Lord Saburou...)
He had felt a terror beyond anything he had ever known before. Kagetora would never forgive him. His old master would rebound upon him all the pain he had caused many times over—of that he was sure. In Kagetora’s grasp, he would be torn limb from limb, tortured to his death.
(Why couldn’t he have just gone to the next world?) Tooyama thought resentfully. (Why couldn’t he just stay dead?)
He looked up, glaring, and saw himself directly reflected in the rear-view mirror. He started badly when Kagetora’s image appeared beside him.
“I-I didn’t mean it!” he gasped, gulping back his scream. He clutched at his head. “I wouldn’t even dare think it! Please believe me!”
“Mister? Hey...”
“Aaaah! I didn’t! Please forgive me!”
The driver shot him a freaked look, likely wondering if he was lugging around a lunatic. Tooyama didn’t lift his head again.
(I...I can’t escape...)
He curled into a ball on the back seat and lay there shivering until he arrived.
His arrival characterized somewhat more by ‘tossed out’ than ‘alighted,’ a haggard Tooyama stood in front of Asaoka Inn at Lake Chuuzenji.
The taxi sped away. The night was silent but for the faint sound of waves. In the darkness, the faint ridges of Mt. Nantai could be seen in the distance.
“Aaaah...” Tooyama sank to the ground in exhaustion. Ayako, who had heard the car, came hurrying from the entrance a moment later.
“Y-you!”
“...!” Tooyama lifted his head.
“You’re Tooyama Yasuhide, aren’t you?” Ayako looked down at him irascibly.
“You are mayhap...Kakizaki-dono...?”
“Mayhap? Mayhap?! Yes, I am Kakizaki! You’ve got some nerve showing your face around here, you shameless traitor! How dare you come crawling back after abandoning your lord and running off by yourself, you filthy disgrace of a samurai!”
Tooyama only stiffened. Beside her, Chiaki said soothingly, “Enough already. He looks like a deer in the headlights. It’s been a while, man.”
Tooyama’s gaze shifted to Chiaki, but there was no recognition in it.
“What, you can’t even be bothered to remember your former colleagues? It’s Yasuda, Yasuda Nagahide. You don’t have to look so terrified. Relax, you idiot, I’m not gonna murder you. Everyone on Kagekatsu’s side’s in Hell now, anyway.”
“S-so it’s Yasuda-dono.”
“Guess Kagetora threatened...or uh, commanded you to come here, huh? And you’re gonna help us?” Chiaki said, eyes flashing. “So now you’re betraying the Houjou?”
“No! I...I...!” Tooyama attempted to deny, when Kagetora’s cruel expression resurfaced in the back of his mind, and he shivered as a chill skittered down his spine. “I...I...yes...”
“Is that so. Why don’t you tell us, then: what is the Houjou scheming? Were you the ones who kidnapped Narita Yuzuru?”
“...!”
“Where is the male Tsutsuga Mirror? Kagetora commanded you to get its location from your master, didn’t he? You’re gonna be our spy.”
Tooyama glared back at them, trembling with with dread and resentment.
“You say no to us, and Kagetora’s never gonna let you go. He’s got a vindictive streak, and he’ll hound you to the ends of Hell.”
“...”
“So why don’t you start talking?”
He could hear the murmur of a small stream from the barred windows.
Held captive in a room somewhere on the Houjou estate, Narita Yuzuru sat on the bed listlessly, concentrating on the sound.
(Where the heck am I anyway?) He sighed, looking at the sky outside the window. (Takaya...)
He hadn’t seen Takaya since Toshima Amusement Park. What had happened to him in that time?
“‘Takaya’ has disappeared—he is wholly ‘Kagetora’ once more...”
“He will fight for us as a warrior of the Houjou.”
(He’s lying, isn’t he?) Yuzuru asked Takaya silently. (Have you really forgotten me?)
Takaya would never set him up like this. ...Once upon a time he would have believed that absolutely, but doubt had taken root in his mind—doubt planted by the widening distance between them. There were times when Takaya looked at him as coldly as if he were a stranger, when he spoke and acted with an arrogance that seemed designed to intimidate everyone around him. Then he would oscillate as quickly back to his normal crude, awkward, unvarnished self. His instability caused Yuzuru much anxiety.
(Which is the real you?) Doubt circled Yuzuru’s disquieted mind. (Is it ‘Kagetora’?)
That couldn’t be. ‘Takaya’ was his true self. Yuzuru wanted to be believe that. Ujimasa’s claims were nothing but a pack of lies. Weren’t they?
(I don’t care anymore—I just want to see you, Takaya!) Yuzuru cried out desperately in the silence of his mind, holding back tears.
That was when—
Yuzuru, a voice said, and he reflexively lifted his head.
“Who’s there? Who called my name just now?!”
He circled the room, searching. He had heard Takaya’s voice—he was sure of it.
“Takaya! Are you here?!”
There it was again—behind him! He whirled. Takaya stood within the mirror hanging on the wall above the ornamental fireplace.
“Taka...ya...?” Yuzuru stared.
That’s impossible, he thought, backing away. It just wasn’t possible. Takaya was in the mirror: in the mirror and nowhere else. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, then repeated the motions. The image of Takaya remained. He could see Takaya so clearly!
“Takaya! Why...!” Yuzuru beseeched his silent friend. “Why are you in there?! What happened?! Takaya, you...!” Yuzuru cried, beginning to panic. “Is it this mirror? Are you in this mirror? What did they do to you? Who did this?!”
A look of anguish crossed Takaya’s face.
“Are you really in there? What should I do? Are you trapped?” Yuzuru clutched desperately at the mirror. “What should I do?! How do I get out of here? How do I get to you? Tell me, Takaya! Did the Houjou do this to you?”
“Why are you shouting?” He started and jerked away from the mirror as Date Kojirou entered the room. “Who were you talking to?”
“...”
Yuzuru stepped in front of the mirror to face Kojirou squarely. Kojirou chuckled softly. “We will begin preparations for the manifestation of your powers now.”
“What?”
“You can simply go quietly go to sleep; we’ll take care of the rest. Mori-dono.”
Mori? he thought, looking toward the door as a young man who had apparently been waiting outside entered. He knew this face: hazel eyes so light they were nearly gold; hair fine as silk thread; red lips curved in a gratingly alluring smile.
“! —Hatayama...!”
“It’s been a while, Narita-senpai.”
Before him stood Hatayama Satoshi, AKA Mori Ranmaru: he who held the «power» of the Oda, who commanded the Oda onshou, who was said to be Nobunaga’s right arm.
“What are you doing here?”
“Is that all you have to say to me after all this time, Narita-senpai? I never imagined I might encounter such dazzling power as you displayed in Sendai. I wanted you more than ever after seeing the glorious sight of the Wisdom Kings raging in the night sky above Sendai.”
Yuzuru glared fiercely at Ranmaru. “You have no right to call me ‘senpai.’”
“You are far too modest. In any case, you belong to me now. Just sit back quietly. I will extract that fearsome power from within you. Is that not a cause for rejoicing, Senpai?” he smiled at Yuzuru darkly, and Yuzuru shivered.
“I don’t really know what you’re all talking about, but...”
“Good. All we need is your power. ...Kojirou-dono.”
Kojirou nimbly intercepted Yuzuru’s dash, pinioning him before he could reach the door. Yuzuru struggled, but Kojirou’s slenderness belied a surprising strength, and Yuzuru couldn’t get free.
“Look into my eyes.” Ranmaru tilted Yuzuru’s chin up and met Yuzuru’s defiant glare. “You can see the flames flickering there, can’t you?”
“...”
Strange, Yuzuru thought. He felt dizzy, as if Ranmaru’s eyes were pulling him in.
He could see the flames. They were purple, eerie and beautiful.
“Can you hear it...?” Ranmaru whispered, sounding as if he were far away. “The voices of the people...telling you to awaken...”
He could hear a babble of voices deep in his ears. Were they singing? No, it was not a song. It gradually drew closer. A crowd chanting. ...An incantation—shingon...?
Yuzuru’s awareness separated from the real world little by little. A languorous, honeyed warmth enfolded him, and all the strength left his body. He fell into a half-hypnotized state.
“...Yes. Entrust your consciousness to me,” Ranmaru murmured, smiling faintly. “Be calm. Quiet. Release that evil power within you—now.”
At the same moment, Ujimasa suddenly felt the presence of another person in his chambers.
“Who’s there?”
He looked around the room, but saw no one. Ascribing it to his imagination, he reached for the closet door for a change of clothing.
His hand dropped at the sight of the door mirror.
“...”
Ujimasa returned Takaya’s gaze, perfectly composed.
“... What is the meaning of this, Saburou?”
Ujimasa recognized his younger brother, though his features belonged to a stranger. Takaya—Saburou Kagetora gazed at him in silence.
“Have you come to offer greetings to your older brother?”
Takaya’s face was expressionless as his cold eyes stared unwaveringly at Ujimasa. Ujimasa, eldest of the Houjou siblings, was unmoved. This was the first time they had laid eyes on each other in four hundred years, but Ujimasa, unlike Ujiteru, felt no overwhelming sentiment. He betrayed no emotion at all.
“You are a Houjou, and you must serve your duty to the clan. You understand that, don’t you, Saburou?” Ujimasa exposited calmly. “That is your fate. You are one of us and always will be: to your death—no, even beyond death. You can never be Uesugi, not completely. We are your family. Your blood. You cannot abandon your own blood.”
«...»
“You are my cherished and beloved brother. Let us win this country together. Join us. We will conquer the Sengoku with Father to lead us. Come, Saburou.”
Crack.
A single long fissure appeared in the mirror with an odd sound. Ujimasa’s eyes widened in surprise. More lines fractured his reflection a split-second later.
Crack crack crack.
“!”
The mirror shattered completely with a loud crash, and the shards flew towards Ujimasa.
“Guh...!”
He instantly shielded himself. His aide dashed into the room at the commotion.
“Are you all right, Tono?! Ah...Tono!” His expression changed as he rushed over to Ujimasa. Broken glass shards large and small lay scattered on the carpet around him. Ujimasa glared at the shattered mirror, panting. “Tono! Are you hurt?”
“—No. I am fine,” he responded, wiping a hand across the blood on his cheek where a fragment had grazed him.
(Damn you, Saburou!)
It was fast approaching an entire day since Naoe left for Hakone, but she had had no word from him.
Night had fallen once more. Ayako was awaiting Chiaki’s report at Asaoka Inn when she saw him drive up.
“Nagahide...!” She rushed over to him. “What are you doing here? Have you found Yuzuru-kun?”
“I followed his trail here. Why the hell haven’t I been able to get in touch with you all day?”
“I went hunting tsutsuga. And what do you mean, you followed Yuzuru-kun’s trail here?”
“I’m not sure either.” Chiaki answered, plopping down onto the lobby sofa. “The Bell-Ringing Ritual pointed me here. I’m pretty sure he’s in the area.”
“So Yuzuru-kun’s in Nikkou? Hold on!—do you know where he is right now? We have to go rescue him!”
“When I got here, the noise got so loud that I couldn’t track him anymore. Someone’s putting up interference. There’s so much spiritual energy gathered at Mt. Nikkou that my ears are still ringing. Why don’t you give it a try?” he suggested, handing Ayako the vajra bell.
“I’m not getting through, either. So Yuzuru-kun must be somewhere around Mt. Nikkou—somewhere with strong spiritual energy.”
“Guessing somebody put up a huge barrier here to disrupt spiritual sendings. Anything that hits it gets bounced right back.” Chiaki leaned into the sofa tiredly. “Time for the legging it part, I s’pose. What’s next for you?”
“We-ell...”
Ayako had already spent that day running around Nikkou trying to hunt down the tsutsuga. Though several more people fallen inexplicably into comas had been taken to the hospital during that time, she had seen neither hide or hair of a single beast. Rumors were beginning to incite panic in the community.
At a loss, Ayako had returned to the inn and discussed their plans with Katakura, who had himself returned only a short while before.
“We must take measures,” Katakura said.
“Let’s lay a trap,” Ayako suggested.
“Trap? What’re you gonna do?”
“What High Priest Tenkai did when he hunted the tsutsuga in Edo: lure them out with their favorite food.”
“Favorite food...?”
“The spirits of tigers and panthers and other carnivores. If Katakura-san can summon a couple of strong poisonous beast-spirits to one place, we’ll kill the tsutusga when they come to feed.”
“Will that really work?”
“I don’t know, but I think it’s worth a try. I’m pretty sure the Date are willing to help us.”
“Okay...” Chiaki took a deep breath, staring up at the ceiling. He hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, and he was exhausted. “You haven’t heard anything else from Kagetora?”
“...No.” Ayako shook her head solemnly. Chiaki had been the first person she’d called after receiving Kagetora’s message from the mirror.
“...Hum. Looks like the Houjou and Fuuma were responsible for the theft of the Tsutsuga Mirrors after all, huh? Has Tooyama come to see you yet?”
“No. But Kagetora said that he’d give him no choice. Kagetora’s probably going to contact him through the mirror like he did with me and Naoe.”
Chiaki looked annoyed. “Contact? Humph. It’s usually called ‘threaten,’ geez. Sounds just like him to terrorize a guy who once betrayed him to get the location of the Mirrors from the Houjou. Damn, now he’s showing his true colors. Takes some chutzpah to play the victim card so he can use Tooyama’s guilt against him. Did he transform back to his old self after entering the mirror or something?”
“Maybe? ...At least, I don’t think this kid version of him is capable of something like this,” a puzzled Ayako answered, one finger tapping her lips. “And who would’ve thought that Tooyama Yasuhide is still in the world?”
He was familiar to both Haruie and Nagahide. When the Echigo-Sagami Alliance was formed, Haruie had a great deal of contact with both Yasuhide and his father, the Houjou envoys, during the hostage exchange that resulted in him being sent to Odawara. (Which led to Haruie joining Kagetora’s side as one of his first supporters in the Otate no Ran, and in turn to his death at the hands of Kagekatsu’s followers...) For this reason, though they had fought on the same side, her rage at Yasuhide for abandoning their lord at the end burned even hotter than Kagetora’s.
“If I’d lived, I would never even have thought about leaving him. What kind of feckless coward forgets all the debts of gratitude he owes his lord and tries to run home by himself? His own father, his brothers in arms, they all died honorably at the Otate. Kagetora lost because he had worthless scum like that serving him. And now he dares to come back to serve the Houjou. That gutless toad. I’ll never forgive him.”
“Hah hah... Is that so?” Chiaki responded indifferently, as if were something that concerned him not at all, and Ayako shot him a sharp glare.
“Not that you’d understand, since you fought for Kagekatsu. Humph! I can’t deal with any of you! I don’t have time for this!”
“...Huh, well...I really thought that Kagetora’s forgotten all his old hatreds.”
“No way! And he hasn’t forgiven, either!”
“I’ll bet you’re the only one who believes that. You sure it’s not because you’re the type to carry a grudge?”
“Gyaah! What did you say?!”
“...He doesn’t hate anybody anymore.” Chiaki said. Ayako gave him a look at the sudden serious tone and dropped her raised fist. Chiaki snorted. “He’s just become a good actor. Like a tanukiwearing a tiger’s pelt. You don’t think?”
“Wh...?”
“When he’s seriously into it, I can’t tell if he’s acting or not sometimes. He puts on that expression, like, ‘I’m the victim here, so what’re you complaining about?’ He flaunts weakness to torture people. Most of it isn’t acting. If you fall for it, he’s got you. You’d think he was a demon if he did it to you.”
“You really mean that?”
“He’s a calculating tiger. An incomparable tactician, unconsciously. His conscience never bothers him. That’s the kind of person he is,” Chiaki said, his mouth crooking, defiant. “That’s why I never want to lose to him.”
Ayako’s expression was ambivalent as she studied Chiaki. He had probably stopped thinking of Kagetora as his ‘master’ long ago, if ever he did. But because he saw them both as human beings—and thus equal, he saw Kagetora clearly.
“Humph. So I’m the only one that stupid tiger won’t show himself to, huh? Pisses me off.”
“...Guess he thinks it’d be a waste of time?”
“’Cause he’s too busy running around inside mirrors? Sheesh, he’ll really take advantage of any situation. And you ask why I call him a hardass. Why doesn’t he just go find Narita himself?”
“Ah!” Ayako looked as if a light bulb had suddenly flashed above her head. “That’s right! We should ask Kagetora to help find Yuzuru-kun!”
“Help? How?”
“Kagetora can look for a mirror reflecting Yuzuru-kun and contact him just like he contacted me here.”
“That’s right!” Chiaki clapped his hands together. “But how do we call Kagetora to ask?”
“Uh...well...”
“Yasuda Nagahide. So you’ve come chasing after Narita Yuzuru, hmm?” Kousaka addressed them unexpectedly from behind.
“You again?” Chiaki huffed in disgust.
“I see Kagetora has contacted you, Kakizaki. So it appears Houjou is behind everything after all. It’s no less than I expected of Kagetora-dono to use his misfortune to his advantage. In the mirror world, he must be practically clairvoyant. Maybe he should stay.”
“Don’t come around trying to distract us just because Naoe isn’t here. What are you Takeda bastards hanging around for, anyway? Where is Shingen, now that he’s been sent packing out ofMatsumoto?”
“My lord is quite well. However, the fact that Narita is here in Nikkou is an unforgivable blunder. And why do you suppose Date Kojirou is here as well?”
“What?!”
“I have not performed a Bell-Ringing Ritual, but...well, let us just say that unlike the useless Yasha, my servants are capable of such trivial reconnaissance, at least.”
“You callin’ us less useful than your crows, you asshole?”
Kousaka snorted a laugh. “The Houjou onshou appear to have set up their headquarters here on a massive scale. I very much hope Narita’s presence is only coincidence.”
“What?! Are you implying that Date Kojirou is working with the Houjou?”
“I’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions,” Kousaka answered vaguely, heading for the stairs. “But if he is, then you have bungled spectacularly. Perhaps you should think up ways of asking Kagetora-dono’s forgiveness now.”
“...”
“Or better yet, prepare yourselves to commit ritual suicide,” Kousaka suggested sarcastically as he went up to the second floor, leaving Chiaki and Ayako without a rejoinder.
Tooyama-sama is gone—!
Tooyama’s followers were in an uproar back at Kinugawa Hotel. Sahei had reported to Tooyama upon finishing preparations for the banquet, only to be angrily and stridently told off, the banquet canceled. Concerned with her master’s strange behavior, she had gone to see him again about thirty minutes later, to find his room empty. Nor could anyone find him anywhere in the hotel. He had always told one of them before he went anywhere; he was a conscientious man. Stranger still, he had left his door ajar and his room an utter mess.
“He went out? Seriously?” Sahei demanded in an inadvertently raised voice. The woman at the front desk looked slightly intimidated.
“Yes. He asked for a taxi a little while ago and left.”
“When was this?!”
“Let’s see... Maybe around an hour ago? He looked very distracted...”
If nothing else, she was certain about his agitated state. He had not mentioned his destination, but she thought the taxi company might know. Sahei’s face paled. Leaning against the front desk, she asked, “Could you please find out?”
Tooyama Yasuhide barely managed to relay the address Kagetora had given him to the driver before hunching over himself, shivering.
(He knows.)
Of Tooyama’s old betrayal. Even of his resurrection into this time.
Every one of Kagetora’s words from the mirror had been knife blades striking into his flesh. The past, no longer quietly laid to rest, rose up to attack him mercilessly. How he wanted to disappear from this place!
When he alone had escaped from Samegao castle four hundred years ago, his guilt for his betrayal, for trying to guarantee his own safety, had not cut into him so deeply as this. Now it flayed him.
(There was nothing else I could do. I was going to die. I didn’t want to die. I had no other choice,) he justified desperately. But before the reality of Kagetora’s righteous hatred, his excuses no longer had any power of conviction.
«I will not forgive you—...!!»
The bottomless loathing in his eyes added:
My hatred for you is without end.
I will send you to Hell with my own hands.
(I...I...Lord Saburou...)
He had felt a terror beyond anything he had ever known before. Kagetora would never forgive him. His old master would rebound upon him all the pain he had caused many times over—of that he was sure. In Kagetora’s grasp, he would be torn limb from limb, tortured to his death.
(Why couldn’t he have just gone to the next world?) Tooyama thought resentfully. (Why couldn’t he just stay dead?)
He looked up, glaring, and saw himself directly reflected in the rear-view mirror. He started badly when Kagetora’s image appeared beside him.
“I-I didn’t mean it!” he gasped, gulping back his scream. He clutched at his head. “I wouldn’t even dare think it! Please believe me!”
“Mister? Hey...”
“Aaaah! I didn’t! Please forgive me!”
The driver shot him a freaked look, likely wondering if he was lugging around a lunatic. Tooyama didn’t lift his head again.
(I...I can’t escape...)
He curled into a ball on the back seat and lay there shivering until he arrived.
His arrival characterized somewhat more by ‘tossed out’ than ‘alighted,’ a haggard Tooyama stood in front of Asaoka Inn at Lake Chuuzenji.
The taxi sped away. The night was silent but for the faint sound of waves. In the darkness, the faint ridges of Mt. Nantai could be seen in the distance.
“Aaaah...” Tooyama sank to the ground in exhaustion. Ayako, who had heard the car, came hurrying from the entrance a moment later.
“Y-you!”
“...!” Tooyama lifted his head.
“You’re Tooyama Yasuhide, aren’t you?” Ayako looked down at him irascibly.
“You are mayhap...Kakizaki-dono...?”
“Mayhap? Mayhap?! Yes, I am Kakizaki! You’ve got some nerve showing your face around here, you shameless traitor! How dare you come crawling back after abandoning your lord and running off by yourself, you filthy disgrace of a samurai!”
Tooyama only stiffened. Beside her, Chiaki said soothingly, “Enough already. He looks like a deer in the headlights. It’s been a while, man.”
Tooyama’s gaze shifted to Chiaki, but there was no recognition in it.
“What, you can’t even be bothered to remember your former colleagues? It’s Yasuda, Yasuda Nagahide. You don’t have to look so terrified. Relax, you idiot, I’m not gonna murder you. Everyone on Kagekatsu’s side’s in Hell now, anyway.”
“S-so it’s Yasuda-dono.”
“Guess Kagetora threatened...or uh, commanded you to come here, huh? And you’re gonna help us?” Chiaki said, eyes flashing. “So now you’re betraying the Houjou?”
“No! I...I...!” Tooyama attempted to deny, when Kagetora’s cruel expression resurfaced in the back of his mind, and he shivered as a chill skittered down his spine. “I...I...yes...”
“Is that so. Why don’t you tell us, then: what is the Houjou scheming? Were you the ones who kidnapped Narita Yuzuru?”
“...!”
“Where is the male Tsutsuga Mirror? Kagetora commanded you to get its location from your master, didn’t he? You’re gonna be our spy.”
Tooyama glared back at them, trembling with with dread and resentment.
“You say no to us, and Kagetora’s never gonna let you go. He’s got a vindictive streak, and he’ll hound you to the ends of Hell.”
“...”
“So why don’t you start talking?”
He could hear the murmur of a small stream from the barred windows.
Held captive in a room somewhere on the Houjou estate, Narita Yuzuru sat on the bed listlessly, concentrating on the sound.
(Where the heck am I anyway?) He sighed, looking at the sky outside the window. (Takaya...)
He hadn’t seen Takaya since Toshima Amusement Park. What had happened to him in that time?
“‘Takaya’ has disappeared—he is wholly ‘Kagetora’ once more...”
“He will fight for us as a warrior of the Houjou.”
(He’s lying, isn’t he?) Yuzuru asked Takaya silently. (Have you really forgotten me?)
Takaya would never set him up like this. ...Once upon a time he would have believed that absolutely, but doubt had taken root in his mind—doubt planted by the widening distance between them. There were times when Takaya looked at him as coldly as if he were a stranger, when he spoke and acted with an arrogance that seemed designed to intimidate everyone around him. Then he would oscillate as quickly back to his normal crude, awkward, unvarnished self. His instability caused Yuzuru much anxiety.
(Which is the real you?) Doubt circled Yuzuru’s disquieted mind. (Is it ‘Kagetora’?)
That couldn’t be. ‘Takaya’ was his true self. Yuzuru wanted to be believe that. Ujimasa’s claims were nothing but a pack of lies. Weren’t they?
(I don’t care anymore—I just want to see you, Takaya!) Yuzuru cried out desperately in the silence of his mind, holding back tears.
That was when—
Yuzuru, a voice said, and he reflexively lifted his head.
“Who’s there? Who called my name just now?!”
He circled the room, searching. He had heard Takaya’s voice—he was sure of it.
“Takaya! Are you here?!”
There it was again—behind him! He whirled. Takaya stood within the mirror hanging on the wall above the ornamental fireplace.
“Taka...ya...?” Yuzuru stared.
That’s impossible, he thought, backing away. It just wasn’t possible. Takaya was in the mirror: in the mirror and nowhere else. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, then repeated the motions. The image of Takaya remained. He could see Takaya so clearly!
“Takaya! Why...!” Yuzuru beseeched his silent friend. “Why are you in there?! What happened?! Takaya, you...!” Yuzuru cried, beginning to panic. “Is it this mirror? Are you in this mirror? What did they do to you? Who did this?!”
A look of anguish crossed Takaya’s face.
“Are you really in there? What should I do? Are you trapped?” Yuzuru clutched desperately at the mirror. “What should I do?! How do I get out of here? How do I get to you? Tell me, Takaya! Did the Houjou do this to you?”
“Why are you shouting?” He started and jerked away from the mirror as Date Kojirou entered the room. “Who were you talking to?”
“...”
Yuzuru stepped in front of the mirror to face Kojirou squarely. Kojirou chuckled softly. “We will begin preparations for the manifestation of your powers now.”
“What?”
“You can simply go quietly go to sleep; we’ll take care of the rest. Mori-dono.”
Mori? he thought, looking toward the door as a young man who had apparently been waiting outside entered. He knew this face: hazel eyes so light they were nearly gold; hair fine as silk thread; red lips curved in a gratingly alluring smile.
“! —Hatayama...!”
“It’s been a while, Narita-senpai.”
Before him stood Hatayama Satoshi, AKA Mori Ranmaru: he who held the «power» of the Oda, who commanded the Oda onshou, who was said to be Nobunaga’s right arm.
“What are you doing here?”
“Is that all you have to say to me after all this time, Narita-senpai? I never imagined I might encounter such dazzling power as you displayed in Sendai. I wanted you more than ever after seeing the glorious sight of the Wisdom Kings raging in the night sky above Sendai.”
Yuzuru glared fiercely at Ranmaru. “You have no right to call me ‘senpai.’”
“You are far too modest. In any case, you belong to me now. Just sit back quietly. I will extract that fearsome power from within you. Is that not a cause for rejoicing, Senpai?” he smiled at Yuzuru darkly, and Yuzuru shivered.
“I don’t really know what you’re all talking about, but...”
“Good. All we need is your power. ...Kojirou-dono.”
Kojirou nimbly intercepted Yuzuru’s dash, pinioning him before he could reach the door. Yuzuru struggled, but Kojirou’s slenderness belied a surprising strength, and Yuzuru couldn’t get free.
“Look into my eyes.” Ranmaru tilted Yuzuru’s chin up and met Yuzuru’s defiant glare. “You can see the flames flickering there, can’t you?”
“...”
Strange, Yuzuru thought. He felt dizzy, as if Ranmaru’s eyes were pulling him in.
He could see the flames. They were purple, eerie and beautiful.
“Can you hear it...?” Ranmaru whispered, sounding as if he were far away. “The voices of the people...telling you to awaken...”
He could hear a babble of voices deep in his ears. Were they singing? No, it was not a song. It gradually drew closer. A crowd chanting. ...An incantation—shingon...?
Yuzuru’s awareness separated from the real world little by little. A languorous, honeyed warmth enfolded him, and all the strength left his body. He fell into a half-hypnotized state.
“...Yes. Entrust your consciousness to me,” Ranmaru murmured, smiling faintly. “Be calm. Quiet. Release that evil power within you—now.”
At the same moment, Ujimasa suddenly felt the presence of another person in his chambers.
“Who’s there?”
He looked around the room, but saw no one. Ascribing it to his imagination, he reached for the closet door for a change of clothing.
His hand dropped at the sight of the door mirror.
“...”
Ujimasa returned Takaya’s gaze, perfectly composed.
“... What is the meaning of this, Saburou?”
Ujimasa recognized his younger brother, though his features belonged to a stranger. Takaya—Saburou Kagetora gazed at him in silence.
“Have you come to offer greetings to your older brother?”
Takaya’s face was expressionless as his cold eyes stared unwaveringly at Ujimasa. Ujimasa, eldest of the Houjou siblings, was unmoved. This was the first time they had laid eyes on each other in four hundred years, but Ujimasa, unlike Ujiteru, felt no overwhelming sentiment. He betrayed no emotion at all.
“You are a Houjou, and you must serve your duty to the clan. You understand that, don’t you, Saburou?” Ujimasa exposited calmly. “That is your fate. You are one of us and always will be: to your death—no, even beyond death. You can never be Uesugi, not completely. We are your family. Your blood. You cannot abandon your own blood.”
«...»
“You are my cherished and beloved brother. Let us win this country together. Join us. We will conquer the Sengoku with Father to lead us. Come, Saburou.”
Crack.
A single long fissure appeared in the mirror with an odd sound. Ujimasa’s eyes widened in surprise. More lines fractured his reflection a split-second later.
Crack crack crack.
“!”
The mirror shattered completely with a loud crash, and the shards flew towards Ujimasa.
“Guh...!”
He instantly shielded himself. His aide dashed into the room at the commotion.
“Are you all right, Tono?! Ah...Tono!” His expression changed as he rushed over to Ujimasa. Broken glass shards large and small lay scattered on the carpet around him. Ujimasa glared at the shattered mirror, panting. “Tono! Are you hurt?”
“—No. I am fine,” he responded, wiping a hand across the blood on his cheek where a fragment had grazed him.
(Damn you, Saburou!)
